Toowoomba's Jack Asis celebrates his Oceania championship win at Rumours International last Friday night. Kevin Farmer
TOOWOOMBA boxer Jack Asis barely had time to don his title belt at Rumours International last Friday night before the phone rang with opponents keen for a shot at the new Oceania champion.
Asis claimed the vacant WBA Oceania super featherweight title with a second-round knockout of Brazil's Isaias Santos Sampaio.
In a sweet night for Toowoomba boxing light welterweight Kris George also clinched the vacant WBA Oceania belt with a hard-fought points victory over Filipino Ammer Pitino Teenor.
The wins earned both boxers top-15 WBA ranking positions.
The pair are one step closer to world title opportunities, but manager Brendon Smith will weigh up a growing number of fight offers before locking in the next match for Asis.
"The phone rang first thing Saturday morning offering Jack the possibility of a world title fight with a different organisation," Smith said.
"The next day a second offer came through from another association offering a lightweight title shot which we declined.
"That's the credibility that comes with what Jack has achieved. We've worked for so long to get him in this position and now things are starting to happen.
"Jack's gone from the hunter to the hunted and big things are in the pipeline for him."
Smith said both Toowoomba and overseas fights are an option for upcoming Asis bouts.
"We'll explore all our options," Smith said.
"But ideally we want to manoeuvre Jack up the ratings to get in a position for a mandatory title shot in the WBA.
"I have my eye on another overseas opponent I would like to bring to this country to fight.
"Once you get inside the top 15 the game changes and we have the support of the WBA. The fairytale is getting closer for Jack."
Smith said George is currently nursing a broken hand suffered on Friday night.
"Kris needs time to recover first. He's a great fighter with great potential but as a manager I feel he needs to take a little more time and keep building in experience before the next step," Smith said.
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